With the much ballyhooed commotion over Dwight Howard's shoulder injury and people wanting him to set the pain aside and play through it, it makes sense that the Los Angeles Lakers center would become a bigger target than normal. The NBA can be a rough league, and players will sometimes take advantage of an injured player by going after his injury on the court.

Howard's torn labrum in his right shoulder isn't going to be any different. Over the past couple games, he said, he believes players are targeting the shoulder and trying to hurt him. Via Yahoo Sports:

The pain flared just moments after tip on Sunday.

On his first trip down the court, Dwight Howard felt Miami Heat players grabbing at his injured right arm.

"They got me early," he told Yahoo! Sports in the quiet of the Lakers locker room after Sunday's 107-97 loss. "They would yank it back."

Howard said the Bobcats did the same thing in Charlotte Friday night – even worse, in fact.

"It's like a jolt," he said. "Then it hurts the rest of the night."

Kobe Bryant recently made comments about Howard needing to play through the pain, which prompted a response from the big man and even his father. Howard is playing through a lot of pain right now, which should be commended on some level. And yet, with the Lakers not winning a lot of games, nothing will probably be commended until the Lakers look like a playoff team again.

So is Howard right? Are the Lakers' opponents targeting his shoulder early and often?